


Stargazing

by Stariceling



Category: Naruto
Genre: Community: 10_whores, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-10-08
Updated: 2007-10-08
Packaged: 2017-12-05 19:11:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/726921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stariceling/pseuds/Stariceling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lee likes to pick out constellations of people he knows. When he shares them with Gaara, Gaara decides to pick one of his own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stargazing

**Author's Note:**

> Of course I picked Rock Lee for 10_whores, who else!
> 
> The first and probably the easiest for me to finish: Gaara/Lee  
> Theme: Look to the Sky
> 
> Author’s notes: I’m not an astronomy buff by any stretch of the imagination, but I did do a bit of research while writing this up. The ‘bear star’ Gaara picks for his Lee constellation is the Kumaoe Boshi (in English: Polaris or the North Star) meaning the bear carrying star or the corner carrying star, depending on how you write it/who you ask. Because North is an unlucky direction in Japan, the star is like a ‘dark corner.’ (Maybe being the Lee-constellation will turn its luck around?) I picked it because it’s a comparatively bright star in its corner of sky, and because it isn’t supposed to disappear seasonally.
> 
> The eagle constellation is Aquila, which I chose because its brightest star (Altair) is part of the Tanabata story (the only story about Japanese constellations that I knew XP). The Gai-sensei constellation isn’t anything in particular.

For all the silent midnight hours Gaara had spent, he had never passed a night just stargazing. He usually spent his nights staring out into the darkness in front of him, thinking, waiting. Night meant a time for the assassins who expected him to somehow be less alert and aware, not time to fill contemplating the stars.

Until now, that is. Gaara lay back on the roof, his eyes turning to follow the path of Lee’s pointing hand, up into the star-studded sky. There must be something to stargazing that he wasn’t picking up on, because Lee was as quiet and calm as Gaara had ever seen him. Gaara didn’t feel any more peaceful just looking at the stars, and the comfortable feeling from relaxing next to Lee didn’t count. He kept one hand firmly on his gourd as a matter of habit, even with it un-slung from his back, though for once the night was too still to contemplate needing the sand.

Gaara still didn’t think that much of those tiny points of light, no matter how obediently he followed Lee’s pointing finger with his eyes. They looked the same as they had every night for as long as he could remember. Lee trained his finger on one star, then another, and another, trying to map out a constellation for him. An eagle that didn’t look like an eagle, no matter how Gaara tilted his head.

“See it?” Lee prompted. He dropped his arm to his side, fingers brushing the back of Gaara’s hand. He was smiling. Gaara could see the bright expression out of the corner of his eye.

“Hm.”

“Have you ever made up any constellations of your own?”

“No.” Coming from anyone else he would have discarded the idea on the spot, but Gaara was still listening. It might be an acceptable way to pass an few hours. Not that Gaara got bored easily, but Lee sounded so energetic about it.

“Look, Gaara-kun. You start there, then you hook that one up to those stars, then down to that one,” Lee explained, his finger pointing up again so that Gaara could follow the gestures indicating each point of light. “Then you connect each of those two to that first one, and then to that one above them. . . do you see that?”

Gaara shifted to one side, lifting himself up enough to rest his head on Lee’s chest. The position gave him a much better view of which stars Lee was pointing at. “Yes.” Unlike the eagle-that-was-not-an-eagle, Gaara found he could see a shape that resembled a stick figure in the stars that Lee had pointed out.

“That is Gai-sensei!”

Was it? Gaara could pick out the human shape, but it seemed a stretch to announce that it represented a specific person. It didn’t look any more like Gai-sensei than anyone else.

Instead of simply dropping his arm again, Lee brought it down to wrap firmly around Gaara’s shoulders, tugging him into a more secure position. Lee was warm, and his body was much more comfortable than the roof beneath Gaara’s head and shoulders. Gaara settled easily under Lee’s arm without thinking, still preoccupied with why the stars were Gai-sensei and not anyone else.

Maybe it was only Gai-sensei because he was important enough for Lee to hang in the stars. According to what Lee had been telling him, people put stories they thought were important up in these connect-the-stars shapes, so why not important people? If he was right about that, who else would Lee put there to keep him company at night?

“Is there a constellation of me?”

“I haven’t seen one that reminds me of you.” Lee’s other arm joined the first as he spoke, wrapping around Gaara’s shoulders in a loose hug. “Not yet, anyway.”

Craning his neck, Gaara managed to look up at Lee’s face. He was frowning in concentration, studying the sky seriously. Maybe he was hoping for a Gaara-constellation to suddenly appear for him, though Gaara doubted it would appear now if it hadn’t before. His serious search made up for having no spot in the stars reserved for Gaara.

Gaara returned his attention to the stars that somehow fascinated Lee so much. It shouldn’t matter if they reminded Lee of him or not, especially when he was right here. Lee shouldn’t need a constellation to think of him.

Besides, Gaara still wasn’t particularly fond of stars. He didn’t need to be a constellation. On the other hand, Lee did seem to like them. He liked them enough to share them with Gaara. And Gaara knew without asking that Lee wouldn’t have made a constellation for himself.

“That one.”

“That one?” Lee tilted his head obediently to follow Gaara’s hand with his gaze.

“That one can be you.” That would be his Lee-constellation. It was clear and bright against the velvet-soft darkness of the sky. It would be perfect for watching on a clear night.

“You can’t really make a constellation out of one star, Gaara-kun.”

“I like that one the most.” Obviously the one he liked best should be Lee. The stargazing taijutsu master was the only person Gaara could even think of hanging up in the sky as a star to watch at night.

Lee was silent for a moment, looking up at the star Gaara had chosen while Gaara tried to remember if it had a name already. He thought it might be called the bear star, or something like that, but he wasn’t sure. It didn’t really matter. If it was already the Lee-star it didn’t need an official name as well. As long as that one star didn’t dip below the horizon and out of sight, that was all he needed.

“Okay,” Lee finally agreed, “If that is the one you like.”

Gaara nodded, settled warm and comfortable in Lee’s arms. He snuggled himself closer, shifting up onto Lee’s shoulder until he could feel the heat of Lee’s blush against his own cheek. He didn’t need to see the other boy’s face in the dark to know he had managed to embarrass and please Lee all at once. It was a pleasant feeling, managing to please Lee with some small thing, but for now he would pretend not to notice the embarrassment. For now he would continue to look up into the sky.


End file.
